2016–17 British and Irish Cup

The 2016–17 British and Irish Cup was the eighth season of the annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs from Britain and Ireland. London Welsh were the defending champions having won the 2015–16 final against Yorkshire Carnegie 10–33 at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Leeds on 10 April 2016. There have been six different winners and six different losing finalists in the seven seasons of its existence. The format of the competition is similar to last season with Scottish clubs not competing. For the second consecutive season the four Welsh teams were the reserve sides of the teams competing in the Pro12 competition instead of clubs from the Welsh Premier Division.

Competition format
The competition format is a pool stage followed by a knockout stage. The pool stage consists of five pools of four teams playing home and away matches. The top side in each pool, plus the three best runners-up, progress to the knockout stage. The eight quarter-finalists are ranked, with top four teams having home advantage. The four winning quarter-finalists progress to the semi-final draw. Most of the matches are played on the same weekends as the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. First round matches began on 14 October 2016 and the final was held on the 21 April 2017.

Participating teams and locations
The allocation of teams is as follows:
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 – twelve clubs from RFU Championship
 * 🇮🇪 – four Irish provinces represented by 'A' teams
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 – four Welsh regions represented by Premiership Select teams.

Round 6

 * Postponed from 21 January due to frozen pitch.

Pool 2
London Welsh entered liquidation on 8 December 2016 and were disqualified from the competition and their results from rounds 1 and 2 annulled.

Round 1

 * London Welsh expelled from the competition

Round 2

 * London Welsh expelled from the competition.


 * Match postponed due to the death of Munster Rugby's head coach Anthony Foley and played on 7 January 2016.

Round 2 (rescheduled game)

 * Match postponed from 22 October 2016.

Knock-out stage
The eight qualifiers were seeded according to performance in the pool stage. The four top seeds hosted the quarter-finals against the lower seeds, in a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 format. If two teams qualified from the same group they could not be drawn together despite the seeding, therefore, Jersey Reds did not play against Ulster A. The quarter-finals were held over the weekend of 10/11/12 March 2017, the semi-finals were held over the weekend of 31 March and 1 & 2 April 2017 and the final was played on 21/22/23 April 2017.

Teams are ranked by:
 * 1 – competition points (4 for a win, 2 for a draw)
 * 2 – where competition points are equal, greatest number of wins
 * 3 – where the number of wins are equal, aggregate points difference
 * 4 – where the aggregate points difference are equal, greatest number of points scored

Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 23 January 2017, with the matches to be played on the weekend of 10–13 March 2017.

Individual statistics

 * Points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals. Appearance figures also include coming on as substitutes (unused substitutes not included).

Team
84 – 7 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 68 – 19 Leinster A away to Richmond on 15 October 2016 84 – 7 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 Rotherham Titans at home to Doncaster Knights on 15 October 2016 Richmond away to Leinster on 20 January 2017
 * Largest home win — 77 points
 * Largest away win — 49 points
 * Most points scored — 84 points
 * Most tries in a match — 12
 * Most conversions in a match — 10
 * Most penalties in a match — 5
 * Most drop goals in a match — 1

Player
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rory Clegg for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rob O'Donnell for Yorkshire Carnegie at home to Bedford Blues on 23 October 2016 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rory Clegg for Ealing Trailfinders at home to Scarlets Premiership Select on 11 March 2017 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lloyd Evans for Rotherham Titans at home to Doncaster Knights on 15 October 2016 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Freddy Gabbitass for Richmond away to Leinster on 20 January 2017
 * Most points in a match — 26
 * Most tries in a match — 4
 * Most conversions in a match — 10
 * Most penalties in a match — 5
 * Most drop goals in a match — 1

Attendances
Ulster A at home to London Scottish on 13 January 2017 Ulster A at home to Jersey Reds on 14 October 2016 Connacht Eagles at home to Cornish Pirates on 16 October 2016 Newport Gwent Dragons Premiership Select at home to Ealing Trailfinders on 22 October 2016
 * Highest — 4,813
 * Lowest — 200 (x3)
 * Highest Average Attendance — 2,180 (London Irish)


 * Lowest Average Attendance — 283 Scarlets Premiership Select)